For now, Jose Mourinho’s job at Chelsea appears to be safe.
Despite losing six times in their opening 11 games of the season, the reigning Premier League champions released a statement on Monday which said that Mourinho has their “full support” and they believe the 52-year-old Portuguese coach is “the right manager to turn this season around.”
The fact that Chelsea even felt the need to release this statement proves how bad the situation is at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho and Chelsea’s latest defeat came at home to Southampton at the weekend, with Saints fighting back in impressive fashion from 1-0 down to win 3-1 in west London. That led Mourinho to go an incredible seven-minute rant after the game, where he first lambasted referee Bobby Madley for not awarding Radamel Falcao a penalty with the scores locked at 1-1, then warned the directors that if”they sack me, they sack the best manager this club has ever had,” before defiantly stating he would not resign as there was “nobody better” than him to manager Chelsea.
Ah, always modest is Mr Mourinho.
In a short statement on the club website ahead of the international break, Chelsea backed their manager to turn things around at the Bridge.
“The club wants to make it clear that Jose continues to have our full support.
“As Jose has said himself, results have not been good enough and the team’s performances must improve. However, we believe that we have the right manager to turn this season around and that he has the squad with which to do it.”
The Blues are next in action in a home game against Aston Villa on Oct. 17, with anything but a win unthinkable for Mourinho and his players.
As for his players, captain John Terry released a statement of support for Mourinho, saying it was time for the players to “stand up” and that Mourinho was the right man to lead them out of the lower reaches of the PL table.
Chelsea currently sit in 16th place in the standings, 10 points off Manchester City in first, with eight points from their opening eight games.
